Magpies have earned a bad rap as the bully in the birdyard—some even call them the birds everyone loves to hate.
These conspicuous corvids are often considered a noisy nuisance, getting into trash, going after crops, preying on other animals, and sometimes hassling people.
The black-billed magpie is widespread in the intermountain West and is fairly easy to identify--dressed in striking black and white, iridescent wings, and elegant long tail--about the size of their cousins, the ravens, crows, and jays.
While fairly common in three of the Four Corners states, magpies rarely cross down into Arizona for some unknown reason.
They frequent streams, pastures, fenceposts, and roadsides. Preferred foods are insects and rodents, but they’ll also eat the eggs and young of other birds—making them only more unpopular.
Magpies can start courting in winter, and form lifelong pair bonds. Both the male and female build large nests in trees, usually with a domed roof of sticks, and a floor of mud lined with finer material. The male brings in food during the two to three weeks the female incubates the eggs.
Once the young are born, magpies become especially territorial and protective. Interestingly, some ornithologists have observed teamwork between magpies and hawks in watching over the offspring. And when magpies are done with their sturdy nests, other birds and animals will reoccupy them.
Though magpies have long been considered troublemakers, they are protected by law and it’s illegal to destroy them, or their eggs and young.
This Earth Note is funded in part by Pink Jeep Tours, written by Rose Houk and produced by KNAU and the Sustainable Communities Program at Northern Arizona University.
